We had a chance to catch up with writer Matthew Wilding on his new comic Nightmare Man, available on Gumroad now. The 2-story anthology explores the nature of fear in small-town America and how the things that terrify children never completely go away as we get older.
And now, here are 7 Questions for Matthew Wilding.
1. For anyone who’s not familiar with you, what are the works you most want to be known for?
Nightmare Man-A 24 page psychological horror story about a middle-aged man confronting a physical manifestation of his childhood nightmares.
Little Things-A suburban horror legend about the effects of shuddering a mental institution in a small town.
Nothing Left to Give-a sorrowful 8 page slice-of-life story about a home robbery.
2. What was your original elevator pitch/idea behind Nightmare Man when shopping the concept to artists?
A victim of a timeless monster that haunts children and lives off of their fear runs into him as an adult in a local coffee shop.
3. The feel of the comic’s art has a distinct Tales from the Darkside vibe. How did you connect with artist Matt Rowe to settle on the aesthetic?
We actually met on reddit. I talked to a lot of artists, but Matt and I really clicked. We worked together on a short comic called Little Things and I just loved dealing with him. He’s got a great sense of hustle and his art is great.
4. The first story seems wholly original. The second story has some parallel concepts to Cropsey (2009). What was the inspiration behind the concept of each story?
Their conceptions are actually pretty similar. They’re both rooted in growing up in suburban southeastern Massachusetts.
Little Things is heavily influenced by my life in Foxboro, MA. There had been a mental hospital there, and I’m not sure it’s true, but people said when I was growing up that they just closed it one day and let a lot of the people being treated there out. So Foxboro had “crazies” walking around all the time, one of which was a very tall guy kids called “Lurch.” He also carried a bag around and actually said “little things” when asked what was in it. One day he snapped at a friend of mine and actually showed him what was in the bag–a bunch of meaningless (to us) papers. But the wonder about what was in the bag was always compelling, so when I was trying to come up with a horror story to write, I remembered him and wrote about it. I’m aware of the similarities to Cropsey, as other people have told me that, but in truth, I had not seen it yet when I wrote the story. It’s more that these towns, particularly in the northeast, that had these asylums, had relatively similar experiences in the 1980s and 1990s. I remember in college swapping weird stories with other kids from places like Danvers, which also had a hospital.
Nightmare Man is a little less directly inspired by a person and more by a vague memory. When I was probably 12, I very clearly remember being in a woodland path about a mile from my house with a group of older kids (probably 15 years old). The path was on conservation land and was right off the road, and I remember a green Ford Taurus stopping there and a man that looked like Jim Martin from Faith No More getting out and just standing there, watching us. Then, for the next few years, I’d just see him around, sitting in his car or just outside it, just watching me.
I have no idea if this memory is real, or if it’s a composite of a bunch of things, but I was thinking about that man while I was walking my dog one day, and I wondered what he’d look like now. Then I thought, “what if he looked exactly the same.” Then I sort of just went down a rabbit hole of how that could be, and what he would need for it to be possible. The result was Nightmare Man.
5. Where do you want to take this anthology in future issues/chapters?
Nightmare Man was initially intended as a one-shot, but the response has been really positive and a lot of readers have asked about a next story. So I guess I have to actually think about that now.
Little Things was really an exercise and was included in Nightmare Man as a stretch goal bonus from the Kickstarter.
I am working on a few other short horror stories right now, which I’ll likely put up online for free at SequentialDecay.com, and my intention right now is to put up an anthology of all of my shorts from 2020 through 2021 into a collection at the end of this year. I’m also working on a haunted house 4-part series with Matt Rowe and I’m scripting a kind of Treasure Island meets The Usual Suspects 4-part series, both of which I’ll be pitching around.
If you know anyone looking for anthology writers, tell’m to give me a holler! I am available!
6. What are you most excited for readers to know about Nightmare Man?
Honestly, all the most exciting stuff about Nightmare Man is part of the reveals in the comic, but I will say that one thing I like about him that people have picked up on is that while what he says and does is pretty frightening, he’s actually pretty funny. He is not completely disinterested in the suffering he’s causing, and his reveling in it isn’t purely sadistic–there’s a really clear reason why he does what he does, and he’s really self-aware about it.
7. What’s next for Matthew Wilding?
In addition to working on other comic projects I’ve already mentioned, I also work on educational games and programs, mostly for history museums. I’ll likely continue to do that. Right now, I’m wrapping up an immersive game with the Reagan Foundation, and I’m working with Gigantic Mechanic on a classroom game about the Civil Rights movement. I’m also head writer and producer of a late-night format comedy show with a history theme called Tea Party Tonight!, which will produce 4 new episodes this year.
So ultimately, what’s next is a lot of writing.
We would like to thank Matthew Wilding for taking the time to answer a few questions about his new comic. If you’re interested in picking up a copy, you can get Nightmare Man #1 right here.
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If you’re interested in this creator’s works, remember to let your Local Comic Shop know to set it aside for you. They would appreciate the call, and so would we. Click here to find your Local Comic Shop: www.ComicShopLocator.com